Advocates of raw milk say it’s one of the ultimate health foods, containing vitamins and powerful enzymes that are destroyed by pasteurization. Unless it’s handled carefully, however, the unpasteurized product can make consumers sick or even kill them.

Maine regulates raw milk because it takes seriously this potential risk to Mainers’ health and safety. And despite the current push in the Maine Legislature to ease restrictions on raw-milk sales, lawmakers should think long and hard before dismantling these safeguards.

Raw milk production in Maine is soaring to meet increasing demand. The state licenses about 100 small producers of raw milk – up from about 15 seven years ago. Robert F. Bukaty/The Associated Press

One of 30 states that allow sales of raw milk, Maine requires producers to get a license in order to sell it. Now legislators are considering L.D. 312, which would exempt dairy farmers from the licensing requirement if the raw milk is sold directly to consumers at the farm.

Maine raw-milk producers currently pay a $25 licensing fee to the state, which tests the milk monthly for contamination and tests the producers’ water quality twice a year.

Production facilities have to have floors that can be washed down, stainless steel tanks, the right refrigeration conditions and running hot water. Implementing these provisions does have a price tag for farmers – but not necessarily a prohibitive one, judging from the fact that the number of licensed raw-milk producers in Maine has soared from about 15 in 2008 to about 100 today.

And an illness tied to raw milk would have its own cost. Bacteria found in contaminated milk can cause diarrhea, vomiting, cramping and fever; more serious consequences include kidney failure or death.

According to an analysis by scholars at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, consumers – especially pregnant women, children and the elderly – are nearly 100 times more likely to get sick from raw milk than from pasteurized milk.

“Raw milk was associated with over half of all milk-related foodborne illness, even though only an estimated 3.5 percent of the U.S. population consumes raw milk,” the researchers said.

There would also be an impact on farmers. At a public hearing last month, Lisa Turner of Laughing Stock Farm in Freeport told lawmakers she had to buy a separate insurance policy so she could sell raw milk. She said she could face a rate hike or lose coverage altogether if someone got sick after drinking raw milk from another Maine dairy.

There’s also the incalculable damage that would be done to the entire dairy industry’s reputation.

In a state as committed as Maine is to small farming and locally sourced food, it’s no surprise that raw milk is popular and that production is soaring to meet demand. And legislators should recognize that this wouldn’t be possible without the protections that Maine’s sound regulatory structure provides to both the people who buy raw milk and the people who sell it.

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